Legislation -
Bill Passed
(House)
(263-159) -
Dec. 1, 2011(Key vote)

Vote Result

Yea Votes

Nay Votes

Vote to pass a bill that requires regulatory agencies to evaluate the potential impact of regulations on small businesses.

Highlights:

Requires government agencies to describe the economic impact a new rule may have on small businesses in their final regulatory flexibility analysis (Sec. 4).

Defines "economic impact" to mean any direct or indirect economic effect on small businesses that is reasonably foreseeable and will result from implementation of a rule (Sec. 2).

Requires each initial regulatory flexibility analysis to contain a detailed description of alternatives to a proposed rule which minimize any adverse economic impact or maximize any beneficial economic impact on small businesses (Sec. 2).

Requires regulatory agencies to amend or rescind rules to minimize any adverse economic impact on small businesses or maximize any beneficial economic impact on small businesses after considering certain factors including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 7):

The continued need for the rule;

The nature of complaints received by the agency from small businesses concerning the rule; and

The contribution of the rule to the cumulative economic impact of all federal rules on small businesses.

Requires each regulatory agency to prepare a plan describing how the agency will conduct outreach to small businesses and "meaningfully" include them during periodic reviews of rules (Sec. 7).